Understanding how to meet the needs of all students through reading instruction is highly important to all educators. Reading skills must be developed at all grade levels and in all subject areas. No matter what type of classroom you are instructing in, you will find yourself faced with the challenge of how to increase reading comprehension.
A high school science teacher may have never learned anything about literacy. However, when he or she assigns the first assignment out of the textbook, the first challenge that both the teacher and student will face: the vocabulary. A math teacher passes out the first exam, when the students move to Section Two, they encounter word problems. When a Social Studies teacher wants to read an article from CNN with the class, it will not matter if students can locate Iraq on the map, if they cannot read the headline.
As educators, understanding the influence of literacy in all subject areas is key to building instruction in all subject areas. Once this influence is recognized, educators then must begin to think about how to teach reading and how to teach it well.
This page is filled with research, strategies and instructional tools that can help all educators differentiate reading instruction in all classrooms for all students.
Strategies for specific disabilities can be found at these links:
Outline for Presentation:
We will focus on literacy centers for our presentation.
There will be five different literacy centers geared towards meeting the needs to the following disabilities:
1. Specific learning
2. Communication
3. Emotional and behavioral
4. English language learners
5. Retts
Class members will rotate to each center. Each center will last 4 minutes. We will have a timer to move people along. GO TEAM!
Next week, we will bring specific information about our disabilities. We will also bring any great examples of literacy centers we have used in our classes. Any materials that we need to prepare for centers we will bring the following week.
Reading Instruction for ELL
Since I can't figure out how to make the page I'm just pasting my stuff here. I'll move it once I figure out the page thing.
Here are the tips for instruction from our textbook.
-Increase Wait Time
-Respond to the message, not to the correctness of the pronunciation or grammar
-Simplify your language
-Don’t force reluctant students to speak
-Demonstrate the concept; use manipulatives
-Make use of all senses
-Pair or groups native speakers together
-Adapt the materials; don’t water down the curriculum
-Learn as much as you can about the language and culture of your students
-Build on students’ prior knowledge
-Bring students’ home language and culture into the classroom and curriculum.
Resources
Links:
Why Reading Is Hard http://www.cal.org/wrih/INDEX.html
This website helps teachers see why it is difficult for children, particularly those learning a new language, to learn to read. It features interactive examples and video clips to demonstrate the challenges and strategies associated with English language learners and literacy.
Virtual Read Alouds http://www.storylineonline.net/
Great resource for the ELL or elementary school classroom. These picture books are read out loud and online by professional actors. Great model of fluent reading. To make it even better while the actor reads, the words are highlighted on the bottom of the screen. Each books comes with a comprehension quizzes and activities.
This powerpoint are from another Marquette class on language acquisiton. I'm not sure I'm suppose to put it up but its got a lot of good information in it.
Costa, J., McPhall, G., Smith, J., & Brisk, M. (2005). Faculty First The Challenge Of Infusing The Teacher Education Curriculum With Scholarship On English Language Learners. Journal of Teacher Education, 56(104), 104-118.
Abstract: The increasing number of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools requires rethinking teacher education (TE). Most teachers have received little preparation in how to educate ELLs. Change in TE programs is needed to ensure that TE students are prepared to teach ELLs. Such change begins by educating TE faculty first. One catalyst for change, a faculty institute in which faculty, doctoral students, and public school personnel participated, is described here. Analysis of the process, the content, and course changes illustrated this TE program’s efforts to infuse the curriculum with ELL scholarship. Change occurred with respect to individual faculty knowledge and awareness and resulted in changes to course syllabi. Emerging issues during the process illustrate how context influenced this change effort. TE programs need to adopt changes in order to graduate teachers confident in their knowledge of and preparation for multilingual and multicultural populations in order to serve all pupils effectively.
Lucas, T., Villegas , A., & Freedson-Gonzalez, M. (2008). Linguistically Responsive Teacher Education Preparing Classroom Teachers to Teach English Language Learners. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(4), 361-373.
Abstract: Students who speak languages other than English are a growing presence in U.S. schools. As a result, many mainstream classroom teachers are finding that they have English language learners in their classes. Unfortunately, most mainstream classroom teachers have had little or no preparation for providing the types of assistance that such learners need to successfully learn academic content and skills through English while developing proficiency in English. In this article, the authors identify a small set of principles that can serve as the linguistic foundation for the teaching of English language learners in mainstream classes. The authors then outline linguistically responsive pedagogical practices that flow directly from those principles. They conclude with concrete suggestions for how teacher education programs can incorporate the knowledge and skills that will prepare all preservice teachers to be linguistically responsive.
Notes: In order to promote a low-stress-level environment for the ESL student, reading stories with numbers in them may prove helpful. Modeling is a necessity. As students attempt pronunciation, keep in mind that some English sounds are not part of other languages. Please note the chart below for examples (not a comprehensive list).
Language Sounds Not Part of the English Language
Chinese b cd d dg g oa sh s th th v z
French ch ee j ng oo th th
Greek aw ee I oo schwa
Italian a ar dg h I ng th th schwa
Japanese dg f I th th oo v schwa
Spanish dg j sh th z
Bouchard, M. (2001). ESL Smart! West Nyack, NY: The Center for
Applied Research in Education.
Understanding how to meet the needs of all students through reading instruction is highly important to all educators. Reading skills must be developed at all grade levels and in all subject areas. No matter what type of classroom you are instructing in, you will find yourself faced with the challenge of how to increase reading comprehension.
A high school science teacher may have never learned anything about literacy. However, when he or she assigns the first assignment out of the textbook, the first challenge that both the teacher and student will face: the vocabulary. A math teacher passes out the first exam, when the students move to Section Two, they encounter word problems. When a Social Studies teacher wants to read an article from CNN with the class, it will not matter if students can locate Iraq on the map, if they cannot read the headline.
As educators, understanding the influence of literacy in all subject areas is key to building instruction in all subject areas. Once this influence is recognized, educators then must begin to think about how to teach reading and how to teach it well.
This page is filled with research, strategies and instructional tools that can help all educators differentiate reading instruction in all classrooms for all students.
Strategies for specific disabilities can be found at these links:
4 ways to build literacy in all content areas:
Read Aloud/Mentor Text
Small Group Instruction
Literacy Centers
Building Academic Vocabulary
Centers
Here's a great site with tons of printable reading centers for elementary.
Student Center Activities
Graphic Organizers
Here are some graphic organizers that can be used across all content areas to help build literacy.
Vocabulary Lists
http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/vocabulary/levels_a2h.cfm?sp=student
Research
Here is an article that explains how to use technology to support building literacy.
Here is an article that discusses various interventions to improve different areas of difficulty in reading:
Outline for Presentation:
We will focus on literacy centers for our presentation.
There will be five different literacy centers geared towards meeting the needs to the following disabilities:
1. Specific learning
2. Communication
3. Emotional and behavioral
4. English language learners
5. Retts
Class members will rotate to each center. Each center will last 4 minutes. We will have a timer to move people along. GO TEAM!
Next week, we will bring specific information about our disabilities. We will also bring any great examples of literacy centers we have used in our classes. Any materials that we need to prepare for centers we will bring the following week.
Reading Instruction for ELL
- Since I can't figure out how to make the page I'm just pasting my stuff here. I'll move it once I figure out the page thing.
Here are the tips for instruction from our textbook.- Increase Wait Time
- Respond to the message, not to the correctness of the pronunciation or grammar
- Simplify your language
- Don’t force reluctant students to speak
- Demonstrate the concept; use manipulatives
- Make use of all senses
- Pair or groups native speakers together
- Adapt the materials; don’t water down the curriculum
- Learn as much as you can about the language and culture of your students
- Build on students’ prior knowledge
- Bring students’ home language and culture into the classroom and curriculum.
Resources
Links:
Why Reading Is Hard
http://www.cal.org/wrih/INDEX.html
This website helps teachers see why it is difficult for children, particularly those learning a new language, to learn to read. It features interactive examples and video clips to demonstrate the challenges and strategies associated with English language learners and literacy.
Virtual Read Alouds
http://www.storylineonline.net/
Great resource for the ELL or elementary school classroom. These picture books are read out loud and online by professional actors. Great model of fluent reading. To make it even better while the actor reads, the words are highlighted on the bottom of the screen. Each books comes with a comprehension quizzes and activities.
http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/sort.htm
Another great resource on word sorts and ways to use them. Check out the other word sort links below.
http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/teaching/vocabulary
A great resource for ELL vocabulary language development.
Journals:
Costa, J., McPhall, G., Smith, J., & Brisk, M. (2005). Faculty First The Challenge Of Infusing The Teacher Education Curriculum With Scholarship On English Language Learners. Journal of Teacher Education, 56(104), 104-118.
Abstract: The increasing number of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools requires rethinking teacher education (TE). Most teachers have received little preparation in how to educate ELLs. Change in TE programs is needed to ensure that TE students are prepared to teach ELLs. Such change begins by educating TE faculty first. One catalyst for change, a faculty institute in which faculty, doctoral students, and public school personnel participated, is described here. Analysis of the process, the content, and course changes illustrated this TE program’s efforts to infuse the curriculum with ELL scholarship. Change occurred with respect to individual faculty knowledge and awareness and resulted in changes to course syllabi. Emerging issues during the process illustrate how context influenced this change effort. TE programs need to adopt changes in order to graduate teachers confident in their knowledge of and preparation for multilingual and multicultural populations in order to serve all pupils effectively.
Lucas, T., Villegas , A., & Freedson-Gonzalez, M. (2008). Linguistically Responsive Teacher Education Preparing Classroom Teachers to Teach English Language Learners. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(4), 361-373.
Abstract: Students who speak languages other than English are a growing presence in U.S. schools. As a result, many mainstream classroom teachers are finding that they have English language learners in their classes. Unfortunately, most mainstream classroom teachers have had little or no preparation for providing the types of assistance that such learners need to successfully learn academic content and skills through English while developing proficiency in English. In this article, the authors identify a small set of principles that can serve as the linguistic foundation for the teaching of English language learners in mainstream classes. The authors then outline linguistically responsive pedagogical practices that flow directly from those principles. They conclude with concrete suggestions for how teacher education programs can incorporate the knowledge and skills that will prepare all preservice teachers to be linguistically responsive.
Notes: In order to promote a low-stress-level environment for the ESL student, reading stories with numbers in them may prove helpful. Modeling is a necessity. As students attempt pronunciation, keep in mind that some English sounds are not part of other languages. Please note the chart below for examples (not a comprehensive list).
Language Sounds Not Part of the English Language
Chinese b cd d dg g oa sh s th th v z
French ch ee j ng oo th th
Greek aw ee I oo schwa
Italian a ar dg h I ng th th schwa
Japanese dg f I th th oo v schwa
Spanish dg j sh th z
Bouchard, M. (2001). ESL Smart! West Nyack, NY: The Center for
Applied Research in Education.